June 6, 2021 – Sand Wash Basin HMA, Colorado – In the far northwest corner of Colorado, is the Sand Wash Basin Herd Management Area. The area is 157,730 acres of mostly sagebrush, bunchgrass and saltbush. It contains between 160 to 360 ‘wild’ horses at any one time. I put wild in quotes because technically they are feral, not wild. The difference being that while horses once roamed this area, they became extinct 10,000 to 11,000 years ago and were then reintroduced by European’s when they came to the America’s in the last 500 years. According to the BLM, genetically speaking, these horses are most closely related to Iberian Spanish breeds, so it’s possible their forbears came over with the Spanish.
I took this photo on my first trip to Sand Wash Bash. I think it may be my favorite of all the photos I have taken. I was on a road along the bottom of a wash. I turned a bend and saw this herd on the mesa above. I got out of my vehicle and slowly walked up the road. I framed the horses with the brush in the foreground and the ‘mountain’ of clouds in the background.
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